Celebrate Fiber, Terre Haute, IN

Knitting and traveling again! Perfect combination! I was in Terre Haute October 10 for the First Celebrate Fiber Event and it was also the first typical Fall Day I experienced this year.  Imagine an old house remodeled and decorated to be the most cozy Bed and Breakfast. Add to it an old Red Barn full of yummy yarns, buttons, fabric antiques and rugs. Now add an experienced chef preparing delicious cakes, scones, ciders and soups all day and serving it right outside this barn, under the trees in a beautiful sunny Saturday. That was my day!

Red Barn at Sycamore Farm

Bed and Breakfast

I had a class of 13 students teaching the Portuguese Style of course!

One of the knitters I have met that weekend was hosting her brothers-in-law who came to visit her husband. When they arrived in town and saw all the posters for “Celebrate Fiber” Saturday morning they start wondering why people in this town were so cautious about being regular! Sounds like a joke, but it was true!

Geneva-on-the-Lake

Recently I spent the weekend in a resort to teach a class to Grindstone Knitting Guild. Loved it!  A beautiful beach in Ohio! A fun group of knitters! Good food! What else? The friendships that came of that weekend!

The president of the guild, Georgia, was most kind to pick me up at the airport and we drove about one hour to the hotel. We got there, unpacked, and went downtown to have dinner walking: 73F, sunny, light breeze in the air. We were 23 total and the restaurant was fun! Lobster lasagna? Lavender lemonade? Caramel bread pudding? We had to share some food in order to try it all!

Geneva-on-the-Lake Hotel View

After a good night sleep at the sound of the waves, wake up, have breakfast and go to class! The group was enthusiastic and so open to learn this “new” old style.

Class and Drawing for Prizes

During our break, time to go for a walk! Just look!

Outside view

The girls have learned all the basics of Portuguese Style of Knitting and in the afternoon they had a sock class. I asked them to choose the project they wanted to work on: some worked on the two color knitting project and some on socks. We did not have enough time to finished what we started, but we had the time to knit, relax and enjoy! Thank you Grindstone Knitting Guild!

The love I get from Knitters!

AndreasHatsSmall By Juanita-1

I have been in many place recently teaching my Portuguese Way of knitting. Also, my DVD was reviewed in “Knit & Style Magazine” for the month of December. As a consequence I had so many orders, telephone calls and emails pouring in. And all the love I get from it! Complements, suggestions, ideas, testimonials, support.  I thank you all. You keep me going and inspired to knit and do more with it!

Here are some pictures of hats that my students finished after taking my class and one of my own new color combination using Harrisville Highland yarn.

Child Andean Hat Harrisville Highland Colors

In love with New Hampshire Again!

Covered Bridge at Flume Gorge

Picture during class Sept 11.09

My dear knitting friends,

I just came back from a eight day trip to New Hampshire. This time I have spent my days in Harrisville (teaching and taking classes) and in other locations of the state as well, like the White Mountains. What a beautiful state. Cost of living is high though, compare to Ohio! Gas prices are $2.69/gallon when I pay $2.42 here. I had a wonderful time anyway!

It started getting there on a Wednesday late afternoon and staying at a house built in 1843 on the Peanut Row Drive. Harriville let the teachers use the house when teaching workshops. I had 9 wonderful students! I mean it! People from diferent places of the country with quite some knitting and life experiences. Intelligent questions and an enthusiastic group. Needless to say I went to the boarding house in the evening to stay with them because the Peanut house was lonely!

Before and after the classes I took the time to walk, pray and meditate. Put life into perspective again away from the noisy and busy life we have here at home. My son gave me an Ipod for my birthday and with that I have been listening to a great amount of audio books and inspirational CDs. I love every minute of it and I am thankful to God that I still have another half of my life to apply my new knowledge!

Over the weekend I went to the White Mountains to a state park called Franconia Notch. Just gorgeous. That’s where the covered bridge is located from 1886!

The view from "my" house

I had reservations for the Cafe Laffayette train ride and had a very pleasant evening taking the two hour ride in very good company and eating all the good food you can imagine! Actually ate too much and decided it was not a good idea to travel back to Harrisville that night. So I stayed overnight and walked the trail at Franconia Notch the next day.

After this unforgettable weekend, I had four days of knitting classes with Donna Kay: Shetland Laces Shawls. If you ever have a change to take one of Donna;s class, please take it! She is a very knowledgeable and patient teacher. We had a history background, wonderful shawls she designed to inspire us and taught how to design your own! And I did. Not quite finish knitting yet, but I will.

My class Harrisville Sept09

Andrea

Thanks to my friend Eric (http://knitforbrains.net), I have learned some very interesting today! He went to Wikipedia to find information about Portuguese knitting and this is what he found out about my name:

Andrea is a given name common in many parts of the world:

• In Czech, Serbian, Dutch, English, German, Hungarian, Portuguese, Scandinavian languages and Spanish, Andrea is used as a woman’s name, as the feminine form of Andrew, Andreas, András or Andre.
• In Italy and Albania, Andrea is a masculine name, the equivalent of Andrew.
• In Croatia and Slovenia, Andrea is both a feminine and a masculine, name Andreja is a feminine name, while Andrija, Andre and Andrej are masculine forms.
• In Romania Andreea is a feminine name and it is written with an extra “e” to avoid confusion with the Romanian word “andrea” meaning knitting needle. Andrei is the masculine form.
• Polish equivalent is Andrzej for males and Andrzeja for females (very rarely used for females).
• Andréa, with an accent mark, is a Brazilian Portuguese form of Andrea. The Portuguese equivalent (feminine of André) would be Andreia.
• In Basque language Andrea is a variant of Andere, both used as woman names, in fact it means “woman, lady”.
• “Andrea” in this particular lettering, can be pronounced in many ways.

I would never guess that my name could mean knitting needle! It was meant to be since I ALWAYS have one in my hands!

Trip to Minneapolis – August 4 to 9, 2009.

A Family Vacation

It was time to go back to Minneapolis and visit my husband’s family. He grew up in Bloomington, MN and my mother-in-law and sister-in-law still live there along with many nephews and nieces. All other siblings are scattered around the country.

My mother-in-law is 92 and in good shape. She has so much experience and wisdom that I love to talk to her! My father-in-law, Howard Wong (deceased) had a Chinese restaurant in Bloomington from 1966 to 1986 with his name. Every time the family gets together we enjoy the stories of the restaurant, the things kids use to do when they were little, how my father-in-law use to be, the Wong way for everything, etc. All very normal in any family. But because we live away from all relatives and do not visit them often, I enjoyed every minute and so did my kids.

We had an opportunity to visit many places in the Twin Cities as well: we celebrated mass at The Cathedral in St. Paul, walked The Mall of America (of course) and visited The American Swedish Institute.  I knew I missed the Bohus exhibition that was there last Spring, but I had to visit it! It is located in the former residence of Swan and Christina Turnblad. The French-Chateauesque style mansion was finished in 1908 and donated to city in 1929. It’s a 33-room mansion with a incredible amount of wood carving (African Mahogany), sculpted ceilings and eleven Swedish porcelain stoves.
And the best for last: on my quest to teach American my way of knitting, I was invited to teach a workshop on the Portuguese Style of Knitting at “The Yarnery”, a lovely yarn shop in St. Paul. I had a very good time with all 26 students that attended my class. Many were inquisitive and quick in learning the new method! Hopefully I have converted another group!

TV Show Knitting Daily – Portuguese Style – Episode 307

I will be on TV showing the Portuguese Style of Knitting! It was very fun to be on their studio along with the hostess and all the knitting garments you can think about it! The new Knitting Daily TV Series 300 starts airing this week on many public television stations and you have to check your local schedule: the episode is 307.  My “show” is not very long but it is a brief demonstration of the Knit stitch, Purl Stitch and Yarn over, all the skills you need to make cute baby booties which pattern will be free on their blog and website.

I hope you watch it and write to me saying what you think. Plus, if this is your first time being exposed this style or if you know anything about the history of it, I appreciate you contact me as well.

Flowers

OK! I know it sounds cheesy like you Americans say here! Everybody likes flowers and admire their beauty and there are zillions of pictures out there! But guess what? Now is my turn to fall in love and admire flowers! I even have my own in my back yard and have been taking pictures of it! So I decided to put it in my blog!

Let me know about you and when you fell in love with flowers. Don’t you feel like knitting their shapes and colors?

Yellow flower in NH

My first Peonies

Stoney Hedge Farm – Marion, OH

I am a very lucky girl! I have the privilege to be a friend of Judy Kilbury, the owner of Stoney Hedge Farm in Marion, OH.

First of all, Judy is a wonderful person: good hearted, wise, and fun to be around! She fell in love with alpacas and llamas about five years ago and I believe we met shortly after. We both love to knit; we share a passion that brings me to good people over and over again.

Judy started with only 3 animals after visiting the Delaware County Fair and today she has 18: 5 llamas and 13 alpacas. The llamas like to protect the alpacas. Both animals have wonderful fiber and Judy’s goal is to educate her customer about them.

Some great attributes of the fiber: 1. Fire retardant, one of the least flammable, difficult to ignite, slow spreading flames. It’s easy to extinguish, it beads like ash, and does not stick to your skin. 2. Absorbs moisture from skin and increases your comfort factor. 3. It’s lightweight, versatile, and is an all-weather fiber. 4. It’s great for spinning, weaving, knitting, crocheting, felting, insulation, batting, and many more uses. 5. It’s very fine and not itchy against the skin. Please visit www.stoneyhedgefarm.com for more information and products. She also carries blends of fiber like alpaca/hemp for example.

New cria

New Alpaca Cria

Last winter we were there to visit her and her animals for the first time, but needless to say it was freezing and we did not spend a lot of time outdoors. My students, my daughter, and I went back two weeks ago and it was delightful! The animals are lovable! Since then, 2 crias (babies) were born: one llama and one alpaca.

Aren’t they beautiful?

Right across the street from the farm you can spot the most lovely school house building you have ever seen! Judy’s father (who lived to be 104) and Judy have been students there. Her father also helped remodel the building and today it is used as a school! He use to sit outside the building before school started to answer any questions the students might had about the school in the past.

School House Building

I hope one day you can also visit Judy and her farm. Be prepared for a treat!

Black and White Alpaca

Wooster, Ohio May 23 2009

Every year we have fun visiting the Great Lakes Fiber Show in Wooster, OH. This year was no different: hot day, tons of yarn, beautiful animals and the lamb sandwich was better than ever!

I had to buy some yarn, of course, so I bought a blend of 50% alpaca, 50% merino, 3 ply from Ohio Valley Natural Fibers.  A gorgeous yarn that comes in hanks of 300 yards for only U$9.95/skein! I cannot wait to sit and knit with it! But I promise myself to finish a couple of things first…

Alpaca - male - expensive fleece

Angora Rabbits

Peonias

The Peonia flower is from my backyard. My husband bought me 3 plants last year for mothers day and they were in full bloom that weekend. I could not resist: my favorite flower!